Gearing up for the season, it seems like every publication is regurgitating this nonsense about the Steelers being too old in their preseason prognostication articles. I figured I'd humor the idea of cutting every player on the roster 30 or older except for Polamalu and Roethlisberger (please don't turn this into an IC "veteran leaders" flame war thread) to see what the Steelers roster would look like. Here is what I got:



A little thin at backup QB and OT, but essentially the same offense the team will field this season. Starks and Cotchery are the only notable losses, neither is a starter.



James Harrison is the big loss. Keisel, Clark, Taylor, Hampton, and Foote appear to have replacements on the roster. For all the moaning the media does about the Steelers being old, I think you could make the argument that if they cut every old player on the roster they still have enough talent to be a playoff team. 50 offensive and defensive players with an average age under 25 years old. I think it's safe to say as long as Ben stays healthy, this team is going to be a contender.

It's funny how 6 guys out of 53 put the avg age up. I think these guys factor in guys like Charlie Batch, who likely wont even see the field, when determining the avg roster age.

Avg 25?!? That could be the youngest team EVER that could be a legit Super Bowl contender.

Good post!

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From Alan Robinson in the Trib


Is 15 too many 30-somethings on an 90 man camp roster? Only 7 are starters.

The Patriots have 16 30-somethings on their roster.
The Ravens have 11, but 8 figure to be starters.
Those "young" Chargers have 20 30+ players on the roster.

it's hard to argue the point on O.

on D tho? your post shows that we have 7 30+ starters on D. yes, if you don't count one of them, then we only have 6:/

for the 'under 30' version of our D, i'm happy at DE, LOLB, and one ILB spot. then 7 question marks; guys that have never started a season in the NFL and weren't considered high-end prospects coming out. but next man up and the standard is the standard etc.

Starting the season, Ike Troy Clark Foote Harrison & Keisel. Hamp is iffy, but he's a spot starter anyway.

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Where have we heard this before?

Not unusual for most teams to field a half dozen 30+ players. I don't understand the media fixation with Steelers players ages. Seems to me like so many out there just want the Steelers to fall off the face of the planet that they try to turn wishful thinking into reality. Good, I love being the underdog and counted out. See ya in January bitches.

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Honor the Fallen. http://www.militarytimes.com/valor/

It's Warren Sapp. He said something that made sense after getting our asses whooped in Balt. Averge Fan Joe thinks "yea he's right...they did just get beat pretty bad. Warren Sapp seems like a smart guy and I believe him".
Average Fan Joe goes back to following his favorite team and watching fantasy stats the rest of the year. Sees the playoff highlights shown a billion times where 30+ year old Ike Taylor gets outrun to the EZ for the win.

Repeat something enough times and anyone will believe it is true.

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I'm sick of hearing 'bout the have and have-not's
Have some personal accountability
The biggest problem with the way that we are doing things is
The more we let you have, the less that I'll be keeping for me

Not being a dick I pointed this out in May...You could hear crickets.

The Steelers will be too young next year...I don't get it.

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http://www.gofundme.com/2vpa9o

Yep, good stuff Perch.

It really just comes down to lazy research/reporting from the national sports media. It's sort of like how in 2007 when we were still hearing stuff about how good and physical the Steelers o-line was when it was clear to anyone who really watched the team that the level of play and level of talent had dropped significantly from where it had been (Sean Mahan, anyone?). It also took them forever to come around to the idea that Roethlisberger was actually carrying the offense and not the running game, among other examples.

That write up I did a few months back on the Steelers youth on offense... when you look at the top 12 players on offense for the Steelers going into 2012, if you factor Mike Adams as a starter (and I believe he will start), the Steelers will have the youngest offense in the entire NFL this season. And as you hit on, with the D we've got some aging stars, like any team that has been good, but the front seven has quality young replacements in every spot outside of arguably replacing Harrison. We all like our young corners and we'll need to address safety here in the next year or two, but the Steelers really are in a great position with their roster right now. In next year's draft that's probably the two areas they will target outside of BPA thinking.

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“It’s not hunger that drives me, it’s not hunger that needs to drive our football team. Hunger and thirst are things that can be quenched. We have to be a driven group, we have to seek greatness.” – Mike Tomlin

Has nothing to do with Ike's age. I just won't except that as the cause of that play being successful for the donks. I think there was a miscommunication in the secondary and the donks took advantage of it. JMO

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Honor the Fallen. http://www.militarytimes.com/valor/